


everyone loves a defective heart

by blurhawaii



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Light Angst, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-14
Updated: 2015-04-14
Packaged: 2018-03-22 23:15:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3747178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blurhawaii/pseuds/blurhawaii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A broken family pieces itself back together.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <i>They live out of a motel until the house is deemed safe enough to spend the night. It’s paid for out of Cade’s own pocket, thank you very much, as soon as he’s informed that his account has been unfrozen. And since Shane seems to be sticking around, he’s forced to mix up the sleeping arrangements; two rooms, a pair and an odd one, all the while refusing to let Tessa and Shane room alone. He may have just saved the world but Cade’s fatherly duties are never done.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	everyone loves a defective heart

**Author's Note:**

> I just have a lot of feelings about this little family unit. I'm probably the only one not so interested in the robots.

-

They live out of a motel until the house is deemed safe enough to spend the night. It’s paid for out of Cade’s own pocket, thank you very much, as soon as he’s informed that his account has been unfrozen. And since Shane seems to be sticking around, he’s forced to mix up the sleeping arrangements; two rooms, a pair and an odd one, all the while refusing to let Tessa and Shane room alone. He may have just saved the world but Cade’s fatherly duties are never done.

Once the house is rebuilt, he stops accepting the money.

A week later, a white car pulls up to the property, not black with tinted window, actually almost orange from the dust by the time it stops at the bottom of the driveway, and out climbs Joshua Joyce, as impeccably dressed as ever.

Cade welcomes him with a handshake that becomes a one-armed hug, dropping the bat he’d grabbed out of habit with a laugh and a shrug. He’s the only one home, having watched the car’s steady crawl while picking through the wreckage of the barn. Tessa’s out with Shane, on a drive they’d said, but it’s been three hours and Cade’s dealing with that pretty well, he thinks, as he’s only started the engine in his truck twice, never actually putting it in gear to find them and drag them back home.

And now that he’s here in person, Joshua wastes no time in offering him more money. He eyes the propped up remains of the barn with a kind of severity only a man used to sterile white walls can manage. He clearly doesn’t see it the same way Cade does, always has; a sanctuary, an extra limb.

When Cade refuses again and again, Joshua smiles, but he also presses a slip of paper into Cade’s hand as he turns to leave. On it is a string of numbers, an account number he’s informed, housing enough money to get Tessa through any college that will have her.

It’s the only thing Cade can’t say no to.

-

Cade is drinking his pick-me-up coffee at three in the afternoon when Shane strides into his new kitchen and slaps a folded up wad of bills onto the table.

“Here,” he says, taking a seat unprompted. “It’s not a lot but fifth place only pays so much.”

Cade slides the money closer, thumbing through the crumpled notes. He’s right, there’s not many. “I thought you were supposed to be the best. You’re telling me you can out-race a bunch of transformers but not the kind of riff-raff that graces the Texan rally scene. Just why are Red Bull wasting their money on you, man?” He pushes the stack back towards Shane, all two hundred and forty dollars’ worth, with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t know if you remember but I busted the only car I have to race saving your arse so, yeah, maybe fifth is the best I could do considering.”

Cade takes a slow pull of his coffee and shrugs. “Still doesn’t explain why you’re giving it to me.”

“Look, Mr. Yeager-”

“What, it’s Mister now? When did that happen?”

Shane is all wide eyes and imploring gaze when Cade laughs. It’s enough to get him to pay attention. 

“I’ve been making an effort,” he says, “since I’ve been living here rent free. So please, take it. Paying my way is the least I can do.”

Cade makes no move to take the money.

“You know what, it kind of looks to me like you’re paying me to date my daughter. And I don’t know if _you_ know this, but this is a ‘no dating’ household. That means Tessa. That means me. And, if you’re living under my roof that means you too, Speed Racer.”

It started as a joke for Cade, really it did. The kid’s alright, a bit of a smart-mouth, though who isn’t these days. The problem is that he’s just so sick of being handed money, like he can stop an apocalypse but not provide for his own family. By the end, it’s not so funny and the warning becomes a reminder of his empty home and it tugs at that old thread of loneliness in him. And to think he’d almost forgotten what it felt like, being left behind.

“Come on, man,” Shane sighs. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. I just want to help.”

The rage drains out of Cade in a breath, in a blink, in the honest way Shane gently brings attention back to the money with a brush of his knuckle. Cade drops his chin into his hand and forces a smile.

“Yeah, you’re right. That was out of line. How’s this?” Cade takes the money, counts out a hundred, pockets it, and hands back the rest. “I’ll take this for food and the rest, I don’t know, maybe take Tessa out somewhere nice, somewhere she gets to dress up. I mean, I didn’t waste money on a prom dress for nothing.”

“What about you?”

Cade pushes away from the table and goes to rinse his number one dad mug out in the sink, the one he bought for himself because he has no shame, and then turns back around with a grin, resting his hip against the counter. “Are you asking me out on a date? Because I thought I just said this is a no dating household.”

Shane’s face lights up in red but he seems to pay it no mind, like the embarrassment is old hat at this point and Cade watches in fascination as it spreads to the tips of his ears.

“She’d really want you to come with us,” he says, and his voice is surprisingly level.

“Yeah?”

The blush is still there, colouring his face, when the corner of Shane’s mouth lifts into a smirk. “Of course, you know she doesn’t trust leaving you at home without a babysitter.”

“You’re real funny, boyo,” Cade says, laughing. And because he’s a soft touch, he follows it by asking, “Hey, is your car out front?”

Shane is skeptical when he nods, which is something Cade’s going to have to condition out of him. Can’t have him against his skills already, it’s bad enough Tessa treats him like a child most of the time.

“Well push it around back,” he says. “I’ll take a look at it since I’ve got nothing better to do today.” With a hand draped around the nape of the kid’s neck, he steers them out of the kitchen. “Got to work up an appetite anyway if we’re going somewhere fancy,” he adds as he nudges the screen door open with his foot and Shane goes with him, nodding along like he totally understands.

-

Tessa resists at first.

She screws up the piece of paper with Joshua’s careful script printed across it and pushes it back into Cade’s chest. A stubborn head runs in the family apparently and, if Cade wasn’t so enamoured with the idea of giving Tessa the best life possible, he’d be proud instead. But right now, Cade takes the note and starts smoothing out the edges, slow and repetitive like, while she watches on, her hands on her hips.

“I just don’t see why I can’t get a part-time job and pay for school myself,” she argues. “Or I could start helping Shane out for real. Being a co-driver is fun and with you fixing up his car we could actually start winning.”

“As much as I love that idea, sweetheart, with this money you wouldn’t have to. This is your ticket to finally getting out of here. You could go to a good school and not have to spend your life babysitting your thirty plus year old father.”

Tessa stands in the light of the huge bay window and Cade remembers that look on her face only too well. It says ‘I’m not eating my greens’, I am going out with my friends’ and ‘There’s no way in hell I am leaving you,’ all in one. So it comes as no surprise when she takes a deep breath and says, “And what if I don’t want that anymore?”

“Seventeen years of the same thing and now suddenly you change your mind?”

“We almost died, Dad!”

“Exactly,” Cade stresses and he reaches for her hand to wrap her fingers around the scrap of paper. “All the more reason for you to start making the most of your life. I just want what’s best for you, baby.”

Her shoulders slump right down at his tone, at his sincerity and love, and her answering smile is a little watery. She takes the note without looking at it and shoves it deep into her pocket. “I can go to State,” she says simply and that means it’s already concrete in her mind. “I don’t need to move out for that. I don’t want to move, Dad. I mean, what the hell would you do without me? I’m not letting you burn down a second house.”

Cade laughs, wet and not so secretly delighted, as he pulls Tessa into a hug in the middle of the family room. “Whatever you want, sweetheart,” he says into her hair, “whatever you want.”

-

He doesn’t do it often but whenever he dares to venture inside, Shane tiptoes around the barn like he’s expecting it to come down on his head at any second. He particularly hates it when Cade throws a piece of discarded scrap metal across the room and the resounding echo actually makes him flinch. Cade does it a few more times, just for good measure.

“I guess a lot of this stuff got caught in the fire then,” Shane says, and he studies a scorched robotic arm only to pull back blackened fingertips.

Cade leans far enough around the cars raised hood to see what he has in his hands and shakes his head. “What are you talking about? The fire barely touched this place. Optimus just blew the walls down.” Even from across the barn, Cade can make out Shane’s puzzled expression.

“You mean this is how this place usually looks?”

“Pretty much.”

On closer inspection, the mess on Shane’s fingers is sticky, not ashen, and if anything, he just looks more uncomfortable, gravitating towards Cade’s side to peer into the guts of his car. The thick scent of oil gets stronger the closer he gets and Cade carries the worst of it, with a slick line curling up so far that it darkens the line of his jaw even further.

Cade can feel the weight of Shane’s eyes as he reaches up to scrub it away; the kid really likes to stare sometimes, he’s noticed.

“What exactly did you have in mind,” Shane says, a beat later, and his voice is feather light but grows stronger with each word. “Because I feel like I need to remind you, it’s rallying not Wacky Races. The car just needs to be fast. That means nothing that’s likely to catch fire.”

“I know what I’m doing, kid. I have enough spare parts around here that I could build you a whole new car if you wanted. Though, I’m sensing you’re something of a sentimentalist, judging by how much you whined about leaving the car behind in the first place, so I promise I won’t mess with it too much.”

Inside, the car is mostly fine. It’s a miracle, as is, that it survived the goddamn nuke that burnt out everything else anyway. But, cosmetically, the car’s pretty much a lost cause. The outside is riddled with bullet holes despite the fact they seem to have missed everything major and the chassis is cracked right down the middle. Cade drops the hood and holds out his hand. It takes longer for Shane to understand what he wants than it does for Cade to sigh, grow impatient, and fish the keys from his jacket pocket. He turns the key in the ignition, listening to the discordant sound of the engine and frowns.

“You placed fifth in this?” he asks.

“Yeah, why?”

“Just thinking I might still be underestimating you, that’s all.”

Shane smirks, all cocksure and young, and Cade regrets his words immediately. “I worked at a garage before all this,” he says, pulling his arms free of his jacket. “I could help.”

“Past tense?”

“Well, I disappeared for a week and they hired someone else.”

Cade hums in understanding and he’s already casting his eyes around the barn, in search for something. “You know,” he says, eyes alight, “I might even have a few pieces of Prime laying around here.”

Shane pauses in the middle of trying to find somewhere clean to hang up his jacket. “That would probably get me disqualified,” he says, failing and in the end letting his jacket fall where it may.

Still, Cade only shrugs, it might be worth it.

-

The warm orange glow from the setting sun coupled with the rhythmic rise and fall of Shane’s breathing has Tessa struggling to keep her eyes open. They’re tucked under the shade of a tree, miles from the house, just watching the sun dip behind the horizon and, even though it’s the same view she’s had all her life, it’s easily the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen.

“I can’t even remember why I wanted to leave,” she says. “I’m happy here.”

Shane speaks and the rumble flows through his chest to vibrate under her cheek. “Because of your dad’s crazy overprotectiveness,” he says, and Tessa smiles calmly, not in the least bit offended.

“And now I want to stay because of it. Weird, isn’t it? I still hate the idea of leaving him alone all the way out here, after Mom, after Lucas and the whole near apocalypse thing with Optimus going away as well. He doesn’t deserve that, being alone.”

They watch as the colour swells, right at the final moment, bright and explosive. Then the sun is finally hidden away and already the inky night is starting to spill in. It gets cold out here too, people forget, and Tessa shivers.

“He’s really not so bad,” Shane says, his voice pitched low, and Tessa finds herself smiling again, this time for a different, prouder reason. “He’s nothing like what I expected. When you had me climbing in and out of windows in the middle of the night, I was expecting, you know, psycho-dad or something, but he’s not like that. He’s actually pretty cool.”

Tessa pushes up onto her elbows, just far enough that she can press a kiss to his mouth. “He’s letting you stay with us; that’s pretty amazing.” She sighs against his lips and he leans into it.

She then sits up all the way and drags her knees to her chest, trapping the leftover heat in the curve of her body. Shane is quick to join her, sliding his arm over her shoulder and tilting his head back to track the stars that are now starting to appear.

“What do you think they’re doing up there?” he asks and Tessa doesn’t need to ask him to explain. She follows his gaze to the brightest light above their heads and knows it’s who and not a what.

“Fighting, I guess,” she decides at last. “We’re not the only ones constantly at war.”

-

Over the next few weeks, the table in the family room becomes a graveyard for paper.

They each contribute to it in turn.

Cade discards his rejected schematics as he passes each morning when all Shane has to do is shake his head. The rallying higher-ups would never allow it, he says, but Cade doesn’t let that attitude dissuade him. Tessa lines up the college brochures that she doesn’t need for faraway places and tops them off with a booklet proudly displaying ‘Texas State University’ in bronze lettering. She doesn’t know what she’s studying yet but there are enough leaflets around for her to flick through before she has to decide. Shane is the most careful, placing an envelope square in the back corner which he tops up with winnings whenever he can.

It’s pretty domestic.

-

They do eventually go out for dinner and Tessa does wear her prom dress.

It’s a night of celebrating for several reasons, both significant and not-so; a first place finish, a successful beta test and an acceptance letter. By the time they come stumbling home they’re laughing, happy and light. A family, as it turns out, who can barely get through their front door without tripping over each other in the dark.

“I look ridiculous,” Tessa says, frowning down at herself, but she lifts her head, catching their assessing eyes and starts giggling again.

“You’re no worse than the rest of us. I mean, how was I supposed to know that your boyfriend’s idea of somewhere high class is the self-titled ‘best damn steakhouse in town.’” The punch Cade sends sailing into Shane’s shoulder makes him stumble but they’re both grinning so it doesn’t matter. “Seriously though, you look beautiful, sweetheart. Isn’t that right, lucky charms?”

Shane rights himself, a little shaky on his feet despite being fully sober, and nods. “You do look great, Tess, unlike your dad. Where did you even get that suit anyway? The bargain bin at Costco?”

He feels the delicate hand Tessa places on his elbow and the gentle fan of her hair as she shakes her head but he doesn’t catch her meaning or the way the mood has suddenly dimmed, pulling taut in the air around them. It’s not until Cade runs his hand down his chest to finger the material of his ill-fitting suit, slow and almost reverent, that he realises.

Cade’s gaze turns far away when he explains, his voice heavy. “This was my wedding suit. Couldn’t really afford a good one at the time. This is all I have. Never really needed another,” he adds as a sad afterthought.

Tessa leaves Shane’s side to drape her arms over her father’s shoulders, murmuring a soft, “Dad,” as she hugs him tight. There are a few wet sounding breaths before he gently pushes her away. Shane can only watch from the side-lines, feeling guilty.

“It’s fine, sweetheart, really. And, anyway, I don’t want to drag down the night. Not when it’s already going so well.” He aims this last part at Shane, begging off an apology without actually saying the words out loud. He then claps his hands together, sharp and distracting, when something occurs to him on the spot. “I’ve got an idea,” he says. “I’ll be right back, just got to run and get something.”

Cade backs out of the room, already lost deep in his own head, drumming on the doorframe as he goes.

As soon as they’re alone, Shane spins on his toes, gritting his teeth together and he always has to ruin things, he thinks, until Tessa grabs the end of his sleeve and pulls him right like she always does.

“You heard him,” she says, “it’s fine. Forget it.”

“Tess, I-”

“It’s fine,” she repeats.

Cade comes back with a box laden down in dust. He places it on the floor and pulls out an old record player followed by a number of records still in their cardboard sleeves. “Some guy in town, he asked me to fix this up for him. I’m sure he won’t mind if we test it first.”

Shane’s already way ahead, making amends in the only way he can, by pushing the coffee table to the edge of the room to free up some space. Tessa slips off her shoes just as something soft and crooning starts up. She doesn’t recognise it but she spots Cade frowning at the name too and doesn’t feel so bad.

“It would be a shame,” she says, “to get all dressed up and not dance.”

Tessa grins at the open palm Shane offers her like this really is the best prom night she could hope for. And maybe it is.

-

Cade and Shane spend most of the night passing Tessa between them. They swap places once the needle hits nothing and buzzing fills the room. In between flings, they steadily burn through the stack of records and when Cade flips over the last one, Shane twirls Tessa away. Her arm stretches out towards her father and she holds her other hand firmly in Shane’s while she beckons him over.

Shane goes red, even in the dim light of the family room, but he keeps his gaze from dropping away as Cade quirks a questioning eyebrow. Tessa wiggles her fingers, not begging but hoping, another thing Cade can’t say no to. So with a begrudging sigh, he lets Tessa draw him into their space.

With all three of them moving at the same time, it’s a mess. The laughing picks up again because Shane crushes Cade’s foot under his boot, not once but twice. And by the time the needle stops again, dropping them into a world of static, the embarrassment becomes too much for Shane and he dives for the sofa, breathing hard. They’re a connected line of hands so they have no choice but to follow him down.

After a long moment, Cade looks down the line, at Tessa’s exhausted smile and Shane’s divided one, and feels truly happy for the first time in a long while. He slaps his hand to his leg, making them all jump, and throws out, “Want a beer, kid?”

Shane’s eyes are bright as he glances over; he fears a trick. “I’m underage,” he says, unsure, and Tessa laughs softly between them.

“Good answer,” Cade says, truthfully, “but I’m willing to let it slide, just this once. Don’t make a habit of it.”

“Okay, sure.”

While he’s out of the room Tessa tips sideways to tuck her legs up under her and lays her head on Shane’s thigh. His hand goes to her hair instinctively. Cade doesn’t say a word when he walks back into the room, just places the cold bottle into Shane’s hand, drops the can of coke meant for Tessa on the floor by his foot, and nurses his own. He pulls Tessa’s legs across his own and palms her ankle but doesn’t interject in any way.

At some point he’s flicked the needle off and the room is now completely silent and lit only by the moon. They drink and Tessa dozes off.

Shane kisses him once it all winds down, leaning over Tessa sleeping between them to slide his mouth against her father’s. The smell of her shampoo mixes with the taste of beer on Cade’s lips and it goes on for a second too long for them both to pretend it didn’t happen.

Once he pulls away, Cade blinks and asks, “What the hell was that?”

Shane can only choke. “I…I don’t know,” and he’s really struggling, looking equally as surprised, “you just looked really sad all of a sudden. I don’t…” Cade heaves a sigh, so deep and desperate that Tessa’s head on his lap feels like the second heaviest thing in the world. “I’m sorry,” he says at last, as there’s nothing better on his tongue.

And Cade doesn’t say anything. Not for a long time. He tips forward and rubs the heels of his hands into his eyes until all he sees are flashes of light. Still, he says nothing. Shane drove them out tonight and he brought them back home in a car that’s covered in as much of Shane’s fingerprints as Cade’s. As a result, Cade has the advantage of a few extra drinks with dinner to dull the panic. It’s still not enough.

He eases out from under Tessa’s legs, being very careful not to wake her, and heads straight for the stairs. He pauses before he gets too far, torn. This is his family now and every cell in his body is urging him to keep moving. But, in the same breath, unrelenting, he thinks again, this is his family now and he does so hate being alone.

Shane blinks and suddenly Cade’s back, tilting his head to kiss him again. It’s chaste but the steady pressure is unmistakable. Tessa doesn’t stir, even when he startles so sharply, though it’s probably for the best.

Cade barely pulls away to say, “Do me a favour, alright, put Tessa to bed. The spare room down the hall is clean. Use it. For tonight, at least.”

“Sure,” Shane breathes out and it’s more of a reflex because he’s thinking about the last time Cade had his hand on his face; he was halfway up the side of building and he’s just as scared now.

Cade leaves then with a nod and the pounding of Shane’s heart in his ears is harsher than that time he was a stowaway on an alien ship.

So much for a 'no dating' household, anyway.


End file.
